Happy Birthday To Me. 24th time.

Every year, on November 2nd, I feel it is the best day of my life. Every year. And then, a year later, something out-bests (if that's the word; if not, then it is from now) it.

I am guilty of recognising every birthday as best, which they are and aren't (at different points in time, unlike Schrödinger's cat).

This year, I'd say that I had the second-best birthday. The best will the one which is to come after this.

This reminds me of an instance from the book I recently read, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". In it, an alien civilisation wanted to know the ultimate answer to life, Universe and everything. They built a computer so powerful that every other computer looked like a pager in front of it. But when the computer was powered on, it told to the audience that it was the second-most powerful computer in the world and the most powerful one will be the one that will come after it. The computer, however, did tell the ultimate answer to life, Universe and everything, which was the "number fourty two (42)". It took it 7 million years to compute the answer.

But what was the ultimate question, of which the answer was 42? This computer was not able to compute that. Therefore it gave an idea of creating a computer so huge that people will mistake it for a planet. This computer was The Planet Earth.

The best birthday will be so awesome that people will mistake it for the planet-equivalent-of-celebration.

I am 24.

There are so many fascinating things about the number 24, that it excites me like a 6 year old.

Reverse of 42 (the ultimate answer).

Approximate number of hours in a day.

SI prefix for 10^24 is yotta and for it's reciprocal (10^-24) is yocto. These are the largest and the smallest numbers to receive SI prefix to date.

Subtracting 1 from any of its divisors (except 1 and 2, but including itself) yields a prime number; 24 is the largest number with this property.

The Day

The day was fun. TOTAL INSANE FUN. Let's go over the numbers first.

114 Facebook wishes.

0 Twitter wishes.

12 phone calls.

23 texts.

AND ONE BIG SURPRISE.

Imagine this. I am heads down, working on my laptop in my office at 11am. And suddenly a few people come raging in from the main entrance singing "Happy Birthday To You". I look up and stay stunned. Mayank, Sahil and Jatin had coordinated with most the people I am in contact with for this surprise visit. (I won't lie, I was a little bit shy when all of this was happening.)

And they brought 3 cakes with them. Yes, three. Yipee!

I cut the cake, shared with everyone, got applied a little on my face. (They didn't know yet that they are messing around with Superman.)

And then, got applied A LOT on my face and in my hair. (Thanks to Mayank and gang!)

Mayank, your birthday is not far away either. Ahem Ahem.

When they showered so much love on me, how can I not hug my lovely friends tightly? Specially when I have cake all over me. Hugs must be served. (And the Superman returns the favour.)

Look at the Justice League. (Wonderwoman didn't want to be seen.)

After this fun cake-cutting session, we went out for a super lunch. Ah, the food.

At home, there was one last cake that was waiting for me. It was the official cake. And the official cake-cutting photo arrives...

The Little Red Notebook

Recently, I've been fascinated by the color Red. It is my new favorite color.

Every year, I look forward to the present that my younger brother plans. Why? Because he is the one who actually put thoughts into what to present to someone.

Last time, he gave me the set of Harry Potter books. This time, I was relly looking forward because all that I had on my wish-list, I had already got all of it a month before my birthday (Macbook Pro, Kindle and A Scooter (yes, I am a scooter person (and, yes I use nested parenthesis))).

This time, I got a Red colored notebook with checked pages. WOW! This little thing was on my wish list for so long, and I was never able to find it in bookstores on my own.

He found one and bought it for me. Yes! This is the notebook I plan to keep always with me (literally 24x7) and note down all the quirky thoughts I get throughout the day and in sleep.

And the flowers

Here's the photo of the flowers, Prasang gave to me (Prasang is the manager of the building in which Owlgrin has its office in). Also, he is my another good friend.

Here's the photo of the flowers he gave to me.

Oops! Cannot see the flowers? No, it's not the problem with your browser or internet. May be he didn't give me flowers. (Prasang, told you that the flowers are going in my blog.)

And that's how the day ends. Oh wait. Not so soon. I also watched a minion movie (Despicable Me 2) to end the day. Now, that was the cherry on the cake.

What a day it was! The BEST BIRTHDAY. Oops. The second-best. :)

These are the people I'd like to thank specially for making the birthday so special (in alphabetical order):

Also, the card enclosed with it is signed off by someone called "The Imaginary Friend". Whoever it is, thank you. (At least let me know if you're a girl or a guy! :p)

How I plan to use it: In networking events, I will carry my cards in the holder, and when exchanging, I will pull the holder out saying, "Tu Jaanta Nahi Main Kaun Hu". Will pull out my card, hand it over saying, "Ab Jaan Jaayega" (in English: "Now, You'll Know").

I loved it. Specially because it reminded me of one item from my wish list - "to direct a movie". :)